Have you ever wondered why the Taj Mahal is yellow? Or what was Project Elephant?

‘Unearthed By Meghaa Gupta’ is an environmental history of Independent India that gives

you exactly what the title promises to deliver. Since no stone has been left unturned for high-
quality, well-researched literature on any other segment of India’s history, the environmental
aspect has remained a segment unventured for quite some time now. Meghaa Gupta has
done a colossal job with Unearthed where she covers every minute detail right from
independent India from 1947 to the Covid-19 struck India of the year 2020, capturing a
unique trajectory and breaking it down into more relatable terms with sharp illustrations that
add to the better understanding of the topic.

Protesting against dams, protecting tigers, hugging trees, saving seeds, making room for
elephants, battling mountains of waste, fighting air pollution, coping with soaring
temperatures-India and its people have shared a remarkable relationship with the
environment.

From the Green Revolution to the National Action Plan on Climate Change, Unearthed: An
Environmental History of Independent India chronicles the country’s historical movements
and significant green missions since 1947. Interspersed with lots of trivia, tales of eco-
heroes and humorous cartoons, this easy-to-read account uncovers the story of a past with
the hope that we will rewrite India’s future

Gupta addresses the environmental issues and impacts that aren’t talked about much and
are even hushed. Starting from the time of independence to the present times, she lays out
how activities and incidents have impacted the environment and its beings in independent
India. Be it the construction of dams, the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the Beej Bachao
Andolan, battling mountains of waste, fighting air pollution or coping with soaring
temperatures, India has shared a remarkable relationship with the environment. From the
Green Revolution to the National Action Plan on Climate Change, Unearthed chronicles the
country’s historical movements and significant green missions.

The book is laced with interesting trivia, tales of eco-heroes and easy-to-read accounts,
uncovering the stories of the past in an attempt to rewrite the future. Unearthed gives
detailed accounts of past discoveries that brought about various environmental revolutions in
India.

For instance, Gupta quite intricately presents the environmental impact of Partition,
something that barely finds mention in any books on the topic. The author points out how an
inadequate process of disposing dead bodies from the communal riots and improper
nutrition in refugee camps eventually led to hunger and weather casualties, as people did
not have the strength to fight the cold.

Gupta underlines how independent India went from becoming ‘largely underdeveloped’ to
one of the fastest growing countries in the world. She talks in detail about the Indus water
treaty between India and Pakistan, and how it affected agriculture, the fishery industry and
large areas of mangrove forests.
The book also manages to cover several aspects like the White revolution, the Green
revolution, the nuclear debate, the Bhopal gas tragedy and offers not only a historical and
economic perspective, but also spells out the business challenges and activism that went
behind the various movements and the political ineptitude of various governments.

She views these revolutions through a critical lens, pointing out to the readers the adverse
ecological and environmental impacts they had. She tells readers how the Green revolution
cured hunger alright, but led to an over-dependence on pesticides, destroying crop quality
and ended up largely damaging the natural environment.

She details the sufferings of forest tribes that came along with industrialisation and
construction of dams. Unearthed trains its readers on how to perceive a historical ecological
movement, like the Sardar Sarovar agitation, from various angles. It talks in detail about
sacrifices of activists in their fight for nature and the environment.

The book maintains a balancing act, wherein it not only appreciates historical decisions like
Project Tiger but is also largely critical of tragedies like the Bhopal gas leak and the water
crisis in Chennai. She ends her environmental account referring to the present-day smog
and air pollution situation in Delhi and the National Action Plan for Climate Change, pointing
at the great need for the individual and the government to take matters related to the
environment seriously.

We are good at ideating and making plans, but the key way to tackle climate change is to
become just as good at executing these plans.

At the individual level, the author recommends adopting sustainable lifestyle changes
instead of only voicing concerns over environmental deterioration. This includes being
prudent about consumption mainly what we use and throw.

At the national level, the author calls for effective implementation of the National Action Plan
for Climate Change that was announced in 2008, and cooperation at the international level.
Countries have to work with each other to find their strengths and how these can be
leveraged for mutual benefit. The book suggests using the Sustainable Development Goals
as indices to map global development and sanction loans to different countries for
developmental work, after thorough due diligence. At the individual and institutional levels,
the key lever is to engage with systemic change. We all need to reflect on and cut down our
consumption, reduce our use of plastic, and generation of garbage, recycle, and compost.

But it is even more important to get together as groups and engage in action that is
transformative. For example, pushing for rainwater harvesting, renewable energy use, and
composting on-site in corporate campuses cannot be evangelised by individuals alone but
must be done as a group, either within a campus or group or across the organisation. At the
global and national level, there is need for better policies and action plans that are multi-
level. “Government plays a crucial role but cannot do everything and in all places. So these
plans need to explicitly build in collaboration and trust-building with communities, local
governments, corporates and civil society networks.

This book’s timing is perfect, as it comes amid the growing debate around climate change
across the world. Tracing key events in our history, the idea in Unearthed is to unearth the
environmental impacts of various events, small and big, social, political, technological or
economic, on the landscape of the natural world and the environment.

Unearthed has a 5 star rating from the readers on Amazon IN. While the book has not been
reviewed on Goodreads yet, Meghaa Gupta does showcase her credibility on the space with
a 3.83 star rating for her previous works which were equally enthralling, if not more. The
author is seen quoting from various sources and is evidently well-researched about the
concept and is seen frequently citing Eric Hoffer throughout the book regarding learners, In
times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully
equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Meghaa Gupta has also made
collaborative works in the field of environment with some big names like Madan Padaki and
TN Hari. Unearthed does justice to the environmental crisis the world is undergoing right
now and it could not have been put in any way better.